8 Questionable Items Of Clothing All Men Refuse To Throw Away

Men, by nature, are hoarders. For all the talk of minimalism and paired down wardrobes and utilitarian work uniforms, most of us are guilty of owning some frankly terrible clothes that we just can't quite let go of.

From that awful leather jacket to the shirt you're not brave enough to wear, these are the eight questionable items of clothing that we all (probably) still have lurking in the dark corners of our drawers and cupboards.

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1 | The Leather Jacket You Bought From A Second Hand Shop

You picked it for £60 thinking it was a steal and you'd look like Marlon Brando in The Wild One or '90s Johnny Depp, but really you look like a substitute Geography teacher who spends too long styling the few strands of hair he has left and likes to complain to bar staff on the weekends when he thinks a pint is too expensive.

2 | The Statement Shirt You've Never Had The Guts To Actually Wear

It's floral, or paisley or covered in tropical birds and it looked next level when you tried it on in the shop. But now you've actually got to wear it and you're a bit nervous - mainly about what your mates are going to say, which at best will be "That shirt's very ...loud" and at worst is entirely unprintable here.

3 | The Holiday Hat You're Convinced Will Come In Handy

Very debonair, very suave. Very Hemingway in Havana. Except it's not, because you're English and therefore look terrible in any kind of holiday headwear. And yet there remains a voice in the recesses of your mind saying: "Keep it... Just keep it until Turks and Caicos in December. This time it will be different ...I promise."

4 | The Pants You Were Given For Christmas Four Years Ago

You're a proper grown-up now. You live in a house and you pay your TV licence and you have a cloying sense of your own mortality. So why can't you just buy some new pants? Pants aren't very expensive, especially in comparison to the £110 you spent last weekend on a night out you didn't even enjoy or that pair of trainers you're going to wear twice this year. All the same, there they remain, thread-bare and depressing and yet somehow still capable of 'doing a job', apparently.

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5 | The Vest You Bought On Your Gap Year

A nostalgia horde, this. That Chang vest had it's moment - the full moon parties, questionable drug consumption and youthful, optimistic abandon of Chiang Mai '99 - but sadly, that moment is gone.

6 | The Uni Society Hoody That Once Gave You A Sense Of Belonging

Rowing Soc '01. Theatre Soc '03. Chess Soc '05. Those were the days and those were your boys, and even though you lost touch with the lot of them the moment you graduated, the power of the hoody lives on, at least enough to make pulling it on for the odd trip to the shops feel oddly comforting.

7 | The T-Shirt You Loved For Years That Is Now Two Sizes Too Small

Every now and then, beneath the melancholy glow of a half moon, you like to sneak to your cupboard, gently reach for it's familiar, tattered embrace and squeeze it on - then stand forlornly in front of the mirror and reminisce about how good it looked on the whippet you once were. No need to throw it away just yet. A few more months at the gym, and you'll be back in it. Of course you will.

8 | The Blazer That's Two Sizes Too Big

You keep trying to trick yourself, because it's a lovely piece. "Actually, it's OK, isn't it?" you tell yourself. "The arms are a bit long, but yeah - it's OK. It's a power suit!" But you know. You know that you're a 38 inch chest and not a 42, and you're not Gordon Gecko and you don't work on Wall Street. So you take it off and hang it back up until next month, when you'll try again.